Polaris Dawn mission blasts off with plans for first commercial spacewalk
Four astronauts have blasted out of the atmosphere as part of a privately funded five-day mission that aims to carry out the first commercial spacewalk.
#Jared #Isaacman, the American billionaire founder of the electronic payment company #Shift4, is bankrolling the #Polaris #Dawn mission and acting as commander of the crew.
It is the second trip Isaacman has charted. In 2021, he flew on the #Inspiration4 mission, the first orbital spaceflight by an #all-#civilian crew, which included a cancer survivor as well as a data engineer who won his seat in a raffle draw.
Isaacman, who has thousands of hours in various aircraft, is joined this time by a retired military fighter pilot and two employees of SpaceX, the Elon Musk-owned company that is operating the mission.
SpaceX’s #Falcon9 rocket launched from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday morning after several delays.
A previous attempt to launch last month was postponed hours before liftoff after a small helium leak on the launchpad.
It was later pushed back further when the same make of rocket was temporarily grounded by US regulators for checks.
The trip will last about five days and take an oval-shaped orbit that travels as far as 870 miles (1,400km) from Earth’s surface
https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/sep/10/polaris-dawn-mission-blasts-off-first-commercial-spacewalk-spacex?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other